DRUNK CINEMA 091: "Aliens" Is Up!

 
"Get away from her, you bitch!"
-- Ellen Ripley, Aliens

Hello again, movie fans!  My wonderful co-host Xan Sprouse and I are back with a new episode of Drunk Cinema! This time, Xan and I are joined by special guest DJ Nik as we watch Aliens, the 1986 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, featuring the return of Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, along with Michael Biehn as Dwayne Hicks, Lance Henriksen as Bishop, and Paul Reiser as Carter Burke!

This time, Xan, Nik and I discuss things like Xan getting the Superflu after not getting vaccinated, the Nurse Who Likes To Fuck from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, DJ Nik finally returning to the Drunk Cinema Theater for the first time since 2022, finally watching a James Cameron film, Sigourney Weaver holding her own against male action heroes, Paul Reiser as Dr. Sam Owens on Stranger Things, Lance Henriksen as Frank Black on The X-Files and Millennium, Bill Paxton in Weird Science, Sigourney Weaver as one of our patron saints on Drunk Cinema, James Horner recycling some of his Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan score for Aliens, Aliens being nominated for 7 Academy Awards, Xan drinking dollar store Nyquil for Drunk Cinema, the deleted sequence where we find out Ripley had a daughter called Amanda, James Cameron loving a dream sequence, Nik being our resident xenomorphologist, Ripley and Newt filling a need in each other's lives, Xan and I interrupting Nik from watching the movie, Burke being a total dick, showing love to Bill Paxton, Burke's dick move, Gorman finally doing something heroic, Alien hand puppeteer being a great job, Ripley facing her fears and coming our stronger on the other side, new Drunk Mail from Christine Peruski, Dave Proctor and Aaron Case, watching Used Cars for Xan's Dad's birthday, and more!

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And in honor of our fifth anniversary, we have a NEW Drunk Cinema t-shirt, which you can find on TeePublic by clicking HERE!  This spiffy shirt looks great while you're listening to the Drunk Cinema podcast or when you're attending your favorite film festival! Or you can order all sorts of cool Drunk Cinema merch there as well!

Be sure to come back in two weeks as Xan and I watch Used Cars, the 1980 satirical dark comedy directed by Robert Zemeckis, featuring Kurt Russell as Rudy Russo, Jack Warden as Roy Fuchs and Luke Fuchs, Gerrit Graham as Jeff, and Frank McRae as Jim!

DRUNK CINEMA 016: "Alien" Is Up!

 
"That's the only way! We'll move in pairs. We'll go step-by-step and cut off every bulkhead and every vent until we have it cornered. And then we'll blow it the fuck out into space. Is that acceptable to you?"
"If it means killing it, yeah, that's acceptable to me."
"Obviously, it means killing it. But we have to stick together."
-- Ellen Ripley and Parker, Alien

Hey there, movie fans!  My wonderful & strange co-host Xan Sprouse and I are back with a new episode of Drunk Cinema! This time, we're joined by special guest DJ Nik as we watch Alien, the 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and featuring Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, Harry Dean Stanton as Brett, Sir John Hurt as Kane, and Sir Ian Holm as Ash!

In this episode, Xan, Nik and I discuss things like watching Alien instead of our planned movie Hot Fuzz, Xan's Alien vs. Predator story, Nik's apology on behalf of Italy for Raoul Bova's terrible acting, why we haven't recorded a new episode since July, my new kitties Desire and Delirium, Nik smoking his beer, Whore Season vs. Horror Season, director Ridley Scott, Alien and Aliens having different tones, Alien 3 vs. Alien Resurrection, Nik cringing at Mom and Dad fighting, the end of The Fly (1986) making Xan cry, the Six Degrees of Donald Sutherland, John Hurt reprising Kane for a parody of the chestburster scene in Spaceballs, wondering why Alien lost Best Art Direction to All That Jazz, composer Jerry Goldsmith, the Alien title being an optometrist eye chart, Disney+ not having any R-rated movies in America, the novelization for Alien, Brett having more shit he's gotta do today, H.R. Giger disturbing Fox studio executives with his designs having blatant sexuality, movies based on videogames being terrible, the acid blood being created as a good reason for why the crew members don't just shoot and kill the xenomorph, alternate names for the Facehugger, evil movie corporations, Xan's spicy pepper Instagram video, the Facehugger singing "Hello, Ma Baby!", Jones being the best Nostromo crew member, John McClane in Alien Hard, Alien being a very progressive movie, a shoutout to Bolaji Badejo, Xan vs. monkeys in Sun City, Facebook comments from Dave Proctor and Benjamin Yates, and more!

If you'd like to check out our podcast and subscribe to us, you can find us on...

Apple Podcasts -- RIGHT HERE
Google Podcasts -- RIGHT HERE

Direct MP3 downloads/Libsyn -- RIGHT HERE
Spotify -- RIGHT HERE

Stitcher -- RIGHT HERE

Drunk Cinema's Facebook Page

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Be sure to come back in two weeks for Episode 017, as Xan and I watch The Omen, the original 1976 supernatural horror film directed by Richard Donner and featuring Gregory Peck as Robert Thorn, Lee Remick as Katherine Thorn, David Warner as Keith Jennings, and Patrick Troughton as Father Brennan!

ALIEN 5 Confirmed with Neill Blomkamp Directing

In space, no one can hear your sequel being greenlit.

Back in January, District 9 and Chappie director Neill Blomkamp teased fans with conceptual art for a possible fifth Alien movie.  The project seemed to be little more than wishful thinking that stalled at studio 20th Century Fox...until now.

Posting this update yesterday on his official Instagram account, Blomkamp revealed that Alien 5 will be his next movie, which has been confirmed by Variety.

Um... So I think it's officially my next film. #alien

A photo posted by Brownsnout (@neillblomkamp) on Feb 18, 2015 at 3:55pm PST

Based on the concept art above, the upcoming sequel was apparently designed with Alien star Sigourney Weaver in mind, as well as Michael Biehn, who played Corporal Dwayne Hicks in the 1986 sequel Aliens. According to Variety, Alien 5 is set years after the upcoming Prometheus sequel, both of which will be produced by Alien director Ridley Scott's production company, Scott Free.

University Academics Link PROMETHEUS to DOCTOR WHO

Well, of course Prometheus links to Doctor Who.  Anything worthwhile in the universe certainly does.

Those lucky, lucky Brits are already able to see director Sir Ridley Scott's prequel to his 1979 science-fiction horror classic Alien and some university academics have made a few interesting observations after seeing the film.

According to the Conventry Telegraph Geek Files column, Dr. Jack Cohen, Honorary Professor of the University of Warwick, and one of the authors of Evolving the Alien: The Science of Extraterrestrial Life, says he's glad the film avoided the usual design of extraterrestrials as humanoids with ridged brows.  "The Alien universe," he said, "which Prometheus may also be part of, at least avoids the more preposterous fictional universes where most of the aliens look exactly like humans, but with slightly different types of bumpy foreheads.  Aliens are likely to be much more alien."

Dr. Nicolas Pillai, a researcher at the University of Warwick's Film and Television Studies department, remarked, "While its trailers promise spectacular special effects, Prometheus follows a very traditional science-fiction narrative pattern.  Archaeologists with conflicting agendas unearth a Pandora's Box -- the curse of Tutankhamun by way of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Erich von Däniken."

However, it seems Dr. Pillai is also a bit of a Whovian, correctly observing Prometheus' connection to a classic Doctor Who character from the Jon Pertwee era.  "Raised in Teesside, Scott was a young BBC designer in the early days of Doctor Who and narrowly missed the chance to design the Daleks.  By calling Rapace's character Dr. Elizabeth Shaw -- also the name of a Doctor Who companion in 1970 -- the screenwriters slyly reference a road not taken in Scott's past."

In addition, Pillai makes a connection to a Doctor Who story from the Patrick Troughton era.  "While previous prequels have been restricted by an inevitable narrative end point, Scott's new film draws upon a wealth of transmedia artefacts -- philosophical tracts, Egyptology, a 1967 Doctor Who serial called 'Tomb of the Cybermen' and the current thirst for TEDtalks."

"Tomb of the Cybermen" involved the Doctor's TARDIS arriving on the distant planet Telos, where an Earth archaeological expedition is trying to uncover the lost tombs of the advanced race known as the Cybermen.  With help from the Doctor, the archaeologists seek the origins of the Cybermen, but instead discover the threat of the Cybermen is still very much alive.  Prometheus' plot, meanwhile, centers on the crew of the spaceship Prometheus as they follow a star map discovered among the remnants of several ancient Earth civilizations.  Led to a distant world and an advanced civilization, the crew seeks the origins of humanity, but instead discovers a threat that could cause the extinction of the human race.

PROMETHEUS Teaser Trailer Debuts

Y'know, for a movie that's supposedly not a prequel to the 1979 science-fiction/horror classic Alien, Ridley Scott's Prometheus sure seems a hell of a lot like a prequel to the 1979 science-fiction/horror classic Alien.

In the just-released teaser trailer shown below, we see the film's title gradually emerging in a way similar to the Alien trailer, a chamber full of pods similar to Facehugger eggs, an astronaut being attacked in a manner very similar to a Facehugger attack that got John Hurt's character G.W. Kane in Alien, and the giant alien "space jockey" found sitting in a chair in Alien.  If Prometheus isn't a direct prequel to Alien, it certainly seems to share the same fictional universe.

Prometheus is scheduled to arrive in theaters on June 8, 2012 and stars Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba and Noomi Rapace.  Let's see how many of their characters, if any, actually make it to the end.